HOUSTON -- Early returns indicated a close race Saturday between Houston's former city attorney and a woman pitching to become the city's first openly gay mayor.
With 52 percent of the city's 738 precincts reporting, City Controller Annise Parker held 53 percent of the vote to Gene Locke's 47 percent, according to the Harris County elections Web site.
The election battle leading up to Saturday's balloting was marked by fierce campaigning and anti-gay rhetoric.
Parker is a lesbian who has never made a secret or an issue of her sexual orientation. But that orientation became focus of the race in recent weeks after anti-gay activists and conservative religious groups endorsed the 61-year-old Locke and sent out mailers condemning Parker's "homosexual behavior."
Cuba detains American
WASHINGTON -- The Cuban government has arrested an American citizen, and U.S. diplomats in Havana are trying to learn more about the case, the State Department said Saturday.
The American was detained on Dec. 5, State Department spokeswoman Megan Mattson said. She would not release any more details, including the American's identity, because of federal privacy law.
The American was working as a subcontractor for the Maryland-based economic development organization, Development Alternatives, Inc.
Jim Boomgard, DAI's president and chief executive, said the person arrested is part of a new USAID program intended to "strengthen civil society in support of just and democratic governance in Cuba."
The New York Times reported Saturday the American was distributing cell phones, laptops and other communications equipment in Cuba.
Body of climber found in Oregon
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Authorities say the body of a climber was found Saturday on Oregon's Mount Hood but two other climbers were still missing after a daylong search.
Detective Jim Strovink of the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office says the climber who died was identified as 26-year-old Luke T. Gullberg of Des Moines, Wash.
The remaining climbers still missing were identified as 24-year-old Anthony Vietti of Longview, Wash., and 29-year-old Katti Nolan of Portland.
Strovink said all three climbers were experienced and well-equipped.
The trio left Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood about 1 a.m. Friday and were reported missing when they failed to return Friday afternoon.
Another storm hits California
LOS ANGELES -- Another in a series of winter storms moved into California Saturday, bringing rain and snow while sending mud and debris onto highways.
As many as 90 vehicles were stranded after rocks and mud flowed down the hillside amid heavy rains along a 12-mile stretch of Angeles Crest Highway north of Los Angeles in an area where a massive wildfire burned earlier this year, said county fire Capt. Frank Reynoso. No injuries were reported.
Philippines lifts martial law
MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine president lifted martial law late Saturday in a southern province where 57 people were massacred in the country's worst political violence, but the area will remain under a state of emergency as authorities investigate a powerful clan accused in the carnage.
The opposition said President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo made the move to pre-empt possible censure by the Supreme Court. The court had ordered the government to comment by Monday on at least seven petitions questioning the legal basis for last week's proclamation, which allowed police and soldiers to make arrests without warrants.
Pakistan mulls new offensive
ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan may launch a new military offensive in a district near the Afghan border where insurgent leaders are believed to have fled to escape a government onslaught against the Taliban in nearby South Waziristan, the prime minister said Saturday.
The suggestion of another anti-Taliban operation illustrates the intractable challenge facing this nuclear-armed U.S. ally: Even as it squeezes one extremist stronghold in its northwest, insurgents simply regroup in other parts of the rugged, loosely governed region.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the next front may be Orakzai, a district north of South Waziristan in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt. The government has launched a spate of airstrikes there, and the U.N. said Friday that about 40,000 people have already fled.
-- From wire reports
